New Back River Bridge to be ready in 2016

Traffic across the Back River Bridge will nearly double in the coming years, but in 2016 a new bridge will be ready to accommodate the additional vehicles.

Georgia officials announced Friday that Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc. of Fleming Island, Fla., will build the replacement of the aged Back River Bridge, at a cost of $14.4 million.

The firm, which beat out four other companies for the contract, is headquartered in Atlanta, according to its website. Past projects include the Sikorsky Bridge, an $83.6 million contract with Connecticut, the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge, a $91.6 million contract with North Carolina, and others.

The new Back River Bridge, connecting Savannah and Jasper County on U.S. 17, is scheduled to open in January of 2016, according to a news release from the Georgia Department of Transportation. The current volume of 19,000 vehicles traveling the bridge each day is projected to nearly double in coming years to as many as 35,000, according to GDOT.

The new structure will stand about 3 feet higher than the original and will be wider, too, featuring 8-foot shoulders in each direction. The shoulder lanes are expected to offer faster clearance of vehicle breakdowns and wrecks which currently force the entire bridge to be shut down.

Such was the case on Monday when a motorist crossed the center lane and caused a wreck, according to authorities. The bridge’s condition played no role, according to Savannah-Chatham police spokesman Julian Miller. The wreck caused several people to be injured and resulted in the hours-long closure of the Back River and Talmadge bridges.

The original cost estimate was $16.5 million before it was pared down to $14.7 million after factoring in lower material costs.

Federal funds will cover 80 percent of the project’s cost, and Georgia will shoulder 90 percent of the rest and South Carolina will pay 10 percent, according to GDOT.

Replacement plans for the existing bridge, which is nearly 60 years, have been under way since at least 2007. Though classified as “structurally deficient” by regulators, it is still considered safe to use. It will remain in service until the new structure opens. The permitting process for the new bridge involved environmental agencies from both states, as well as the Charleston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issued its Department of the Army permit last fall.

The project is located in an environmentally sensitive area and will require placing fill material in 1.65 acres of tidal wetlands and temporarily clearing of about one-third of an acre of wetlands.